Armenian National Committee of America
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PRESS RELEASE
May 25, 2005
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918
TURKISH GOVERNMENT FORCES “POSTPONEMENT” OF GENOCIDE CONFERENCE
— Silences Discussion of Armenian Genocide
WASHINGTON, DC – The Turkish Government compelled scholars from
three universities in Turkey today to indefinitely postpone a
conference which would have focused on the Armenian Genocide,
reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). The
move is another in a series of government actions in Turkey to
quash freedom of speech and prevent open discussion regarding this
crime against humanity.
“The Turkish government’s actions reflect a long-standing,
profoundly troubling, and increasingly aggressive policy of seeking
to silence any discussion of the Armenian Genocide – domestically,
through coercion and threats of prosecution, and abroad through
blackmail and intimidation,” said Aram Hamparian, Executive
Director of the ANCA. “In taking these steps, Turkey’s leadership
has made a mockery of its claims to seek a dialogue with Armenians,
compounded international skepticism about its willingness to meet
even minimal standards for freedom of expression, and underscored
the need for our government and the international community to
press Turkey – once and for all – to end its campaign to deny
justice for this crime against humanity.”
The Conference, titled “Ottoman Armenians During the Decline of the
Empire: Issues of Scientific Responsibility and Democracy,” was
jointly organized by the Comparative Literature Department of Bilgi
University, the History Department of Bogazici University and the
History Program at Sabanci University. Originally set to take
place May 25th-27th at Bosphorus University, the schedule was to
include over 30 papers by Turkish scholars from Turkey and abroad.
In the days leading up to the conference, Turkish Government
officials spoke stridently against the conference and its
organizers. Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek, in a speech
before the Turkish Parliament on Tuesday, went so far as to accuse
the academics of “treason.” The Minister described the conference
as a “a stab in the back to the Turkish nation.” Cicek expressed
regret that, as Justice Minister, he could not personally prosecute
the organizers and participants.
Opposition parliament members concurred with the government’s
views. According to the Agence France Presse, senior Republican
People’s Party Parliament member and former Turkish Ambassador to
the U.S., Sukru Elekdag, referred to the conference as a
“treacherous project.”
The government crackdown on the conference is the most recent
chapter in the Turkish government’s 90-year campaign of genocide
denial. This effort has intensified in recent years. In 2003,
Education Minister Hikmet Cetin issued a decree making student
participation in a nation-wide essay contest denying the Armenian
Genocide compulsory. The most recent revisions to the Turkish
Penal Code criminalize references to the Armenian Genocide and the
removal of troops from Turkish occupied northern Cyprus. World-
renowned Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, is the latest to be charged
with violation of the Turkish penal code for references to the
Armenian Genocide. According to news reports, Pamuk stated,
“30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians were killed in Turkey. Almost
no one dares to speak out this but me, and the nationalists hate me
for that.”